What's wrong with Celtics in crunch time?

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/breaking-down-boston-celtics-struggles-clutch-time-situations



What's wrong with Celtics in crunch time?



MAR 12, 2021

BY CHRIS FORSBERG
CELTICS INSIDER


Chris Forsberg
CELTICS INSIDER



The Boston Celtics have a clutch problem.

Halfway through the 2020-21 season, the Celtics have played a league-high 25 crunch-time games — score within 5 points in the final 5 minutes. That’s three more clutch games than any other team in the league. That ⅔ of their total games have been nail-biters is concerning on its own, in part because of the taxing schedule this season and an inability to give key players much-needed late-game rest.

The Celtics are a meager 11-14 in those clutch games, a tough look when you consider the teams with the most crunch-time wins are Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia 76ers (15-5) and Brooklyn Nets (14-7). Even the Hornets (12-5) and Heat (12-10) have more crunch-time wins than Boston.

One of the hallmarks of Celtics teams has been an ability to win close games in the Brad Stevens era. Entering this season, the Celtics were 107-72 in crunch-time games over the past four seasons. The defense wasn’t always perfect in those situations but Boston always seemed to be able to get a must-have stop when it needed it most and Stevens used his whiteboard to put the Celtics in position to escape with wins.


CELTICS IN CRUNCH TIME GAMES, BRAD STEVENS ERA

SEASON...............W/L.........MIN......OFF RTG........DEF RTG.....NET RTG
2020-21...............11-14......84........101.6............110.3.........-8.7
2019-20...............23-19......144.......112.7...........108.3..........4.4
2018-19...............23-19......148.......125.7...........114.8..........10.9
2017-18...............29-17......180.......109.6...........108.3..........1.3
2016-17...............32-17......187.......119.7...........107.9..........11.7
2015-16...............25-21......158.......111.9...........107.8..........4.1
2014-15...............20-25......174.......104.7...........103.6..........1.1
2013-14...............15-34......178.......90.8.............111.6..........-20.8

For the first time since Stevens' rookie season on the bench, the Celtics have a negative net rating during crunch time. In fact, it’s a ghastly minus-8.7. While we’ve harped on the team’s inability to consistently get defensive stops at the end of close games in this space before, it’s the offensive numbers that might be even more troubling at the moment.

Boston’s offensive rating of 101.6 in crunch time this season ranks 25th in the NBA. That’s 11 points per 100 possessions lower than the team’s offensive rating for the season and 7.3 points lower than the meager 108.9 offensive rating the team has posted in the fourth quarter of games this season.

What’s most concerning is that those offensive woes in crunch time seem to transfer over to the defensive end. Just rewind to Thursday night in Brooklyn. Boston pulled within 2 with under four minutes to play and couldn’t get that much-needed stop. Harden hit a floater, Daniel Theis missed a great look at a 3-pointer, and Kyrie Irving hit a 3 at the other end. Suddenly, the lead was back at 7.

Boston got back within four with just over 2 minutes to go and their final six offensive possessions were:

Jayson Tatum turnover leading to Kyrie Irving 3-pointer
Kemba Walker missed contested 25-foot stepback leading to Irving free throws after being fouled in transition
Tatum missed 13-foot turnaround
Jaylen Brown missed 3-pointer
Brown turnover
Brown turnover

The Celtics simply have to be better. There’s way too much offensive talent on the team to be kicking the ball all over the court with the game in the balance. There’s too much defensive potential, especially with Marcus Smart back, to continually allow teams to push their leads back out in crunch time.

It sometimes feels like the Celtics have to work so darn hard to get a crunch-time basket and, when shots don’t fall, they hang their heads. The team’s lack of attacking the basket in those situations is likewise infuriating. Data suggests Boston is limiting opponents to 40.5 percent shooting overall in clutch time and just 30.1 percent beyond the 3-point arc — top 7 numbers overall — and yet it hasn’t routinely led to wins because the offense has sputtered so much in big moments. The Celtics’ lack of aggression at the basket limits the free throws in those situations, too.

Good teams find ways to win close games. Some of Boston’s current woes are fixable. They’ve given up a staggering amount of 3-pointers in recent games but that comes down to being better at rotations. They’ve shown in the past they can be the best 3-point defense.

But they need to find their late-game mojo. Every game in the playoffs is close. The best teams play their best balls in those moments. Too often this season, the Celtics crumble at the finish line.


Bob
MY NOTE:  This is somewhat dated, it came out after the Nets loss, but the issue is the same.  We are now 11-15 in crunch time instead of 11-14.  Our two stars, the Js, think they have to do it themselves.  While I admire them for their competitiveness and willingness to accept the pressure it's not getting us there.  It is really disturbing that our crunch time record and stats are only better than Brad's first year in the league, when we knew we were going to lose and lose often because Danny completely blew the team up.  We had one star on that team, Rondo, and an up-and-coming Avery Bradley.  Everybody else was either a solid but unimpressive player (e.g. Kris Humphries) or players on their last legs (Gerald Wallace) or "just passing through" (e.g. Jordan Crawford, Bogans, Phil Pressey, Vitor Faverani).  This team has 2 repeat All-Stars (Kemba and Jayson), one first time All-Star (Jaylen) and a member of an NBA Championship team (Tristan).


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Never mind crunch time.....what is going on with them now. It is like they just want to go home and end the season. No fight in them tonight, which is disappointing. I just do not understand how two young, talented guys can play so lackadaisical at times This is puzzling to me

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Never mind crunch time.....what is going on with them now.  It is like they just want to go home and end the season.  No fight in them tonight, which is disappointing.  I just do not understand how two young, talented guys can play so lackadaisical at times   This is puzzling to me

They are not consistent enough to carry us on our backs and they haven’t grasped how to make others better, plus there isn’t enough talent to make better. A lot of us questioned why Semi was back on this team for another year, clearly he and GWill are not getting it done enough as PF’s and they are not 3’s. Romeo is still MIA and BS refuses to develop Nesmith. Other than that we have 2 good bench players in Smart and RWill, who is damaged goods and BS refuses to give him enough minutes, so he must be monitored and limited for a reason....sadly Kemba is a shell of himself and he’s getting 36 million. Danny has his work cut out for him as so many teams have passed us by.

Danny has his work cut out for him as so many teams have passed us by.




since he's the guy that put this team together, I don't think I'd count on him being the guy to fix anything.

Ainge had so many draft picks a few years ago, everyone talked about all the "assets" he had to work with and here we are. Ainge brought in THREE All-stars with his salary cap room and all three LEFT!

maybe Ainge is the one that has been passed by now. one title in 18 years shouldn't get anyone a lifetime pass to me.

this team is a mess and I don't think one move is going to fix it. But hey we got two all-stars...yeahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The problem with the Celtics is not about crunch time. It is really about all the time. It is about a need to strengthen fundamentals through repetitive reinforcement, accountability and discipline. These are coachable functions.

We expect, for example, the j's to make their teammates better. The focus about that has been more on sharing the basketball with teammates. Basically we want both of them to become better playmakers. We have seen an uptick YOY in their assists totals but truth be told neither of them came into the league as playmakers. Neither of them are fundamentally sound passers or playmakers yet. Part of the problem centers on their decision making. They do not know what a good shot is. Coach Stevens has not clearly defined what that is or they just do not listen to him. That also applies to Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker. Every single game Jayson Tatum dribbles out to the 3 point line and takes that cutesy side step fade away 3 pointer. Every game Jaylen turns himself into a pretzel and losses all semblance of technical conformity with his shot. They still do not know when to shoot and when to pass. As they improve in their decision making they will be even better. Perhaps our next coach can help them get there faster. Bad habits are in fact habits.